Product Description

Prepare yourselves... The strangest bedtime story ever told! Released for the first time here after 25 years in obscurity, Cult Epics brings you DEATH BED, George Barry's uniquely weird journey through a world of wind demons, carnivorous furnishings and the spirit of Aubrey Beardsley!

At the edge of a grand estate, near a crumbling old mansion lies a strange stone building with just a single room. In the room there lies a bed. Born of demonic power, the bed seeks the flesh, blood and life essence of unwary travellers… Three pretty girls arrive on vacation, searching for a place to spend the night. Instead, they tumble into nightmares - and the cruel, insatiable hunger of the Bed! DEATH BED is a one-of-a kind experience: comic, horrific and dreamlike, that truly has to be seen to be believed. Discover this neglected marvel of American horror for yourself!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15712 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Customer Reviews

So ya say the bed eats huh? I was looking more in the line of memory foam but...
The title of this little known gem from the 1970's says it all; "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats!" What more do you really want to know? The answer to that question is probably everything, although I really feel that you'll get more out of this movie flying blind, but I'll give it a shot... the story centers around a demonic bed that well, ahem, "eats" anyone who makes the mistake of laying in it. Helping to move the tale along is the narrative of the spirit of an artist, trapped behind one of his own paintings hanging near the bed. Enter a number of unsuspecting victims AND a cockamamie way of defeating the evil munching mattress(when the demon that created it falls asleep, the bed losses it's invulnerability... but this only happens once every ten years... also the spirit behind the picture can talk then too... also... you get the idea LOL!) and you've got a movie! Now I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is a "lost classic" of the genre, BUT Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is most certainly an entertaining and original entry to be sure. The film plays more like a macabre fairy tale than an actual horror film(kinda had the feel of Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural) with a surreal and dreamlike quality running throughout it. Some excellent effects(take into consideration this is the 70's and they're attempting to make a bed devouring people look real) and the ability to switch from serious to playful(a scene in which the bed eats a bottle of Pepto Bismo after a meal comes to mind) all help to make the movie an enjoyable time waster. In the end, Death Bed: The Bed That Eats won't work for everyone, even horror fans may struggle with the bizarre and at times plodding nature of the film... but for those in search of originality and the throwback feel of 70's DIY cinema, Death Bed delivers. Thanks to fellow Amazon reviewer Mike Liddell for the recommendation on this and a big congratulations on his recent marriage(hope she likes horror Mike!).

[4.5] A creative horror film. The Influence on A Nightmare on Elm St and dvd special features.
A low eerie yet motherly voice tells Sharon to eat all of her food. On Sharon's plate there are larva, caterpillars, and a large cockroach. She is having a nightmare in the ominous bed born from a demons blood. As she sleeps her cross necklace slowly and patiently begins to saw away at her throat before the bed will devour her body and plant roses in her skull for her unknowing friends to pick. In the chamber a victim's ghost from this evil narrates this twisted macabre story while trapped behind his own painting.

That is just one of many such sequences in writer, producer, director George Barry's twisted, weird, and extremely creative only film. Death bed plays like an evil and Gothic fairytale, filled with dreamlike images and eerie effective sets.

I would imagine Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street (Infinifilm Edition) was greatly influenced by the film, from a bed getting into your dreams that wants nothing but to kill you. The bed is also a sadist as the tortured spirit of our narrator points out, taking pleasure in tormenting It's victims before finally devouring them.

The acting is pretty bad but that adds to the moments of dark comedy such as the bed drinking pepto bismal after eating a young girl.

The scenes of a black screen with the titles Breakfast or Dinner in white letters across the screen reminded me of the seasons spelled on screen during The Shining [Blu-ray] minus the eerie music. It made me think of something an amateur Kubrick would make on an extremely low budget and perhaps while under the influence of mind altering drugs.

I heard about this diamond in the rough in Stephen Thrower's book Nightmare, USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents (also very highly recommended) who has a write up on the dvd jacket and gives this and a few other "exploitation independents" the reason to continue to search through tons of bad obscure films in hopes of finding something like this.

I have to say the concept is so good and the budget low that I could see this possibly warranting a remake although this original is bordering on bizarre horror masterpiece in It's own right. This is a must add to your horror dvd collection to give it some diversity and even if you don't like the movie look at it this way: You have a movie called Death Bed The Bed That Eats, that's worth it alone.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES (FROM THE BACK OF THE DVD)
New Transfer from original 16mm Print
4 Page Liner Notes
Video Introduction by the Director
Unrated, Uncensored Version.

fails as a comedy and fails as a horror film but succeeds as a really weird movie
death bed will likely generate more blank stares than laughs, such as when the bed eats an apple and spits it back to the surface as just a core (or even when it downs a bottle of pepto). and it's not likely that it will give you the chills either, such as when a moment later the bed consumes two lovers. you may chuckle to yourself here and there but ultimately this film is a curiosity piece. anyone who sees this will have to wonder, "and they thought this was a GOOD idea???" in fact the director was unable to sell the movie at all and it disappeared into obscurity until the dvd format began resurrecting every film possible, including this oddball.
it's an amateurish production but not neccessarily "bad". Death Bed actually has its moments. Some of the digestion shots are interesting visually. the entity trapped behind the painting on the wall is gothic and cryptic. it's also filled with lots of voice over to express characters inner monologues and even the entity has alot to say. these moments and about half of the dialogue in general is just flat out bizarre. the film in general is capable of putting the viewer in a warped head space.
Death Bed is entertaining and can be very interesting if you can set logic aside for the entire 80 min runtime. probably best if viewed by a few people rather than a lone sitting. if you're a collector or an open minded viewer than i'd say grab a copy. extras are limited to a video intro by the director and an insert with liner notes. the transfer is actually decent considering what Cult Epics was working with. the cover art of the dvd is very nice to. i rated this one star above average because it sets itself apart from the norm while maintaining a fairly coherent story line...also for the fact that it's just strange strange strange!